Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Does Islam permit Muslims to lie?
Muslim scholars teach that Muslims should generally be truthful to each
other... unless the purpose of lying is to "smooth over differences" or
"gain the upper-hand over an enemy."
There are several forms of lying to non-believers
that are permitted under
certain circumstances, the best known being taqiyya (the Shia name). These
circumstances are typically those that advance the cause of Islam - in some cases
by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their
vulnerability and defeat them.
Quran
Quran (16:106)
- Establishes that there are circumstances that can "compel" a Muslim to tell a
lie.
Quran (3:28) -
This verse instructs believers not to take those outside the faith as friends, unless it is
to "guard themselves" against danger, meaning that there are times when a Muslim
may appear friendly to non-Muslims, even though they should not feel friendly.
Quran (9:3)
- "...Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolaters..."
The dissolution of oaths is with pagans who remained at Mecca following its capture. They did
nothing wrong, but were evicted anyway. (The next verse refers only to those who
have a personal agreement with Muhammad as individuals - see Ibn Kathir
vol 4,
p 49)
Quran (66:2)
- "Allah has already ordained for you the dissolution of your oaths..." For today's reader, the circumstances for betraying your word are not specified, leaving this verse open to interpretation.
According to Yusuf Ali in his commentary: "if your vows prevent you from doing good, or
acting rightly, or making peace between persons, you should expiate the vow."
(Presumably, whatever advances the cause of Islam would qualify as 'doing good').
Quran (40:28)
- A man is introduced as a believer, but one who had to "hide his faith"
among those who are not believers.
Quran (2:225)
- "Allah will not call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, but
for the intention in your hearts" (see also 5:89)
Quran (3:54)
- "And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and
Allah is the best of schemers." The Arabic word used here for scheme
(or plot) is makara, which means 'cunning,' 'guile' and 'deceit'. If Allah is
supremely deceitful toward unbelievers, then there is little basis for denying that
Muslims are allowed to do the same. (See also
8:30 and
10:21)
Taken collectively these verses are interpreted to mean that there
are circumstances when a Muslim may be "compelled" to deceive others for a
greater purpose.
Hadith and Sira
Sahih Bukhari (52:269) - "The Prophet said, 'War is deceit.'"
The context is thought to be the murder of Usayr ibn Zarim and his
thirty unarmed companions by Muhammad's men after they were "guaranteed" safe passage
(see Additional Notes below).
Sahih Bukhari (49:857) - "He who makes peace between the people by
inventing good information or saying good things, is not a liar." In other words, lying is permissible when the end justifies the means.
Sahih Bukhari (84:64-65) - Speaking from a position
of power at the time, Ali
confirms that lying is permitted in order to deceive an
"enemy." The Quran defines the 'enemy' as "disbelievers" (4:101).
Sahih Muslim (32:6303) - "...he did not hear that exemption was granted in
anything what the people speak as lie but in three cases: in battle, for
bringing reconciliation amongst persons and the narration of the words of the
husband to his wife, and the narration of the words of a wife to her husband (in
a twisted form in order to bring reconciliation between them)."
Sahih Bukhari (50:369) - Recounts the murder of a poet, Ka'b bin al-Ashraf, at
Muhammad's insistence. The men who volunteered for the assassination used
dishonesty to gain Ka'b's trust, pretending that they had turned against
Muhammad. This drew the victim out of his fortress, whereupon he was
brutally slaughtered. From Islamic Law: Reliance of the Traveler (p. 746 - 8.2) -
"Speaking is a means to achieve objectives. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable
through both telling the truth and lying, it is unlawful to accomplish through
lying because there is no need for it. When it is possible to achieve such
an aim by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if
attaining the goal is permissible (N:i.e. when the purpose of lying is to
circumvent someone who is preventing one from doing something permissible), and
obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory... it is religiously precautionary in all cases
to employ words that give a misleading impression... (See the Permissible Lying section on the Sharia page for more) "One should compare the bad consequences entailed
by lying to those entailed by telling the truth, and if the
consequences of telling the truth are more damaging, one is entitled to
lie."
Notes
The Hadith makes it clear that
Muslims are allowed to lie to unbelievers in order to
defeat them or protect themselves. There are several forms: Taqiyya - Saying something that isn't true
as it relates to Muslim identity (i.e whether one is a Muslim or what
that means). This is a Shiite term: the Sunni counterpart is Muda'rat. Kitman - Lying by omission. An example
would be when Muslim apologists quote only a fragment of verse
5:32
(that if anyone kills "it shall be as if he had killed all mankind")
while neglecting to mention that the rest of the verse (and the next) mandate
murder in undefined cases of "corruption" and "mischief."
Tawriya - Intentionally creating a false
impression by saying something that is technically true, when knowing
that the listener will interpret it in a different way. This practice
has a broader application than taqiyya.
Muruna - 'Blending in' by setting aside some practices of Islam or Sharia in order to advance others.
Though not called taqiyya by name, Muhammad clearly
used deception when he signed a 10-year treaty with the Meccans (known as Hudaibiya) which allowed him
access to their city while he secretly prepared his own forces for a takeover.
The unsuspecting residents were easily conquered when he broke the
treaty two years later. Some of the people in the city who had trusted him
at his word were executed.
Another example of lying is when Muhammad used deception
to trick
his personal enemies into letting down their guard by
pretending to seek peace. This happened in the case of Ka'b
bin al-Ashraf (as previously noted) and later against
Usayr ibn Zarim, a
surviving leader of the Banu Nadir tribe, which had been
evicted from their home
in Medina by the Muslims.
At the time, Usayr ibn Zarim was attempting to gather an
armed force against the Muslims from among a tribe allied with the Quraish
(against which Muhammad had already declared war). Muhammad's "emissaries"
went to ibn Zarim and persuaded him to leave his safe haven on the
pretext of meeting with the prophet of Islam in Medina to discuss peace.
Once vulnerable, the leader and his thirty companions were easily massacred by the
Muslims, probably because they were unarmed - having
been given a guarantee of safe passage (Ibn Ishaq 981, Ibn Kathir v.4 p.300).
Such was the reputation of early Muslims for lying and
killing that even those who "accepted Islam" did not feel entirely safe.
Consider the fate of the Jadhima. When Muslim
"missionaries" approached this tribe, one member
insisted that they
would be slaughtered even though they had already
"converted" to Islam (to avoid
just such a demise). However, the others insisted that
they could
trust the Muslim leader's promise that they would not be
harmed if they simply
offered no resistance. (After convincing the skeptic to
lay down his arms,
the unarmed men of the tribe were tied up and beheaded
by the missionaries - Ibn Ishaq 834 &
837).
Today's apologists often rationalize Muhammad's murder of
his critics at Medina by falsely claiming that they broke a treaty
by their actions. Yet, these same apologists place little value on
treaties broken by Muslims. From Muhammad himself to Saddam Hussein, promises made
to non-Muslim are distinctly non-binding in the Muslim mindset.
Leaders in the Arab world sometimes say one thing to
English-speaking audiences and then something entirely different to
their own people in Arabic. Palestinian leaders routinely tell
Westerners about their desire for peace with Israel, even as they whip
Palestinians into a hateful and violent frenzy against Jews. Yassir
Arafat openly referenced "Hudaibiya" - an admission to conning guillible
non-Muslims.
The 9/11 hijackers practiced deception by going into
bars
and drinking alcohol, thus throwing off potential
suspicion that they were
fundamentalists plotting jihad. This effort worked so
well that John Walsh, the host of a popular American television
show, claimed well after the fact that their bar trips
were evidence of 'hypocrisy.'
The transmission from Flight 93 records the hijackers
telling their doomed passengers that there is "a bomb on board" but that
everyone will "be safe" as long as "their demands are met." Obviously
none of this was true, but these men, who were so intensely devoted to
Islam
that they were willing to "slay and be slain for the cause of Allah" (as the
Quran puts it) saw nothing wrong with employing taqiyya to
facilitate their mission of mass murder.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) insists that it
"has not now or ever been involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, or supported
any covert, illegal, or terrorist activity or organization." In fact,
it was created by the Muslim Brotherhood and has bankrolled Hamas. At
least nine founders or board members of ISNA have been accused by prosecutors of
supporting terrorism.
The notorious Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
is so well known for shamelessly lying about its ties to terror and extremism
that books have been written on the subject. They take seriously the part
of Sharia that says "it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is
permissible and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory". The "goal" is the ascendency of Islam (and Sharia itself) on the American landscape.
In 2007, CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper published an op-ed with a fabricated story about Muhammad that portrayed him as a forgiving man:
There was a lady who threw garbage in the path
of the prophet on a daily basis. One day, she didn‘t do it. The prophet went to
inquire about her health, because he thought she might be sick. This lady ended
up converting to Islam. So, that‘s how you respond to people who attack you,
with forgiveness and with kindness.
Hooper is not ignorant. He knew what he was deceiving
his audience. After getting caught, he changed the wording slightly to
say that it is a tradition "Muslims are taught," but he continues to promote the story without qualifying it - thus causing others to unwittingly repeat a lie.
Prior to engineering several deadly terror plots, such as
the Fort Hood massacre and the attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner,
American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was regularly sought out by NPR, PBS and even
government leaders to expound on the peaceful nature of Islam.
In 2013, a scholar at the prestigious al-Azhar
university decreed that Muslims may wear the cross in order to deceive
Christians into thinking they are friendly. He cited 3:28 which says not to be friends with non-Muslims unless it is a way of "guarding" yourself against them.
"Hiding faith" can mean deceiving others about Islam in
order to make it appear more attractive. For example, a prominent
Muslim activist in the United States, Linda Sarsour, bills herself as a
"progressive" and says that gays, women and religious minorities need
not worry about Sharia being imposed. She even says that money is lent
free of charge under Islamic law (more about that here).
In a remarkable 2020 video, Zakir Naik, one of Islam's most revered apologists stated
that Muslims should appear "kind" to critics of Islam in non-Muslims
countries, but arrest and punish them if they dare set foot in a land in
which Muslims have power. In other words, the "kindness" is an act.
The Quran says in several places that Allah is the
best at deceiving people.
There are a few early Quran verses that seem to encourage truthfulness: 70:32-33, and it bears mentioning that many Muslims are no less honest than anyone else. But, when lying is
addressed in the Quran, it is nearly always in reference to the "lies against
Allah" - meaning the Jews and Christians who rejected Muhammad's claim to
being a prophet.
Still, the circumstances by which Muhammad allowed a
believer to lie (to a non-spouse) are limited to those that either advance the cause of Islam or
enable a Muslim to avoid harm to his well-being (and presumably that of other
Muslims). Although this should be kept very much in mind when
dealing with matters of global security, such as Iran's nuclear intentions, it
is not
grounds for assuming that the Muslim one might personally encounter on the
street or in the workplace is not honest. Additional Reading: Taqiyya: TROP's Response to the Apologists Taqiyya about Taqiyya (Raymond Ibrahim) Knowing the Four Forms of Lying Muruna: Violating Sharia to Fool the West
